DONNA DAY Mentors

Karoline Forsberg works as a Senior Systems Designer at Ubisoft Stockholm. With previous experience in social games, MMOs, and VR she has now joined the Ubisoft family and moved from Iceland where she previously reside back to her hometown. When she doesn´t spend time working on games she loves creating fancy cocktails and hanging out with her cat, Troja.

As a producer I love helping my team to perform at their best! whether it is helping with planning, Pipeline improvements, prioritizing work etc. or to be someone they can vent to when times get rough. I have work experience in AAA and smaller game studios, where each have their own challenges and ways of working, which fits perfect with my personal slogan "you are never done learning".

Ali is a Co-Founder at NokNok Audio, a cozy trio who focus on creating a healthy workplace through teamwork and yelling “FY!” at each other when we overwork. Collaboration is a huge part of every soundscape, working closely with devs, bouncing ideas off teammates, and improvising with VO actors!

I'm currently working as a Talent Acquisition Specialist at Ubisoft, and before that I've worked with recruitment within IT for a couple of years. I'd be happy to answer questions and talking about finding jobs and things related.

Hiii! I am Julia Scheving and am a Game Writer / Community management Intern for Babloon Studios! I am a happy, bubbly and extremely geeky girl who loves Star Wars! I love writing characters, backstories and dialogue. Favourite game atm: FFXIV

Anna works as a Development Director at DICE/EA since 2021 and was previously the CEO of Antler Interactive, a new-tech game studio in Stockholm of twelve people. During Anna's leadership the studio shipped three games and listed the crypto currency Alice, which increased more than 30,000% the first day. She spent five years at Paradox Interactive as the producer for seven game expansions plus the strategy game Crusader Kings 3. She holds a BSc in Business from the Stockholm School of Economics and has studied Computer Science at KTH.

Passionate and driven Engineering Manager with 9 years of experience working at Spotify and 6 months at Star Stable. I love to help people and believe in coaching leadership where people can grow. I'm especially passionate about creating an atmosphere that is both diverse and including.

Once a Game Writing student, though these days a wrangler of gamers and their various opinions, a track-keeper of schedules and release dates, and someone who tries to be funny on Twitter. Just for the fun of it, a sword fighter (#IWasAVikingBeforeValheimMadeItCool), and queer folk-pop music maker.

I'm a University of Skövde-alumni who started out as a community manager in 2020 and now works as a 3D-artist at Iron Gate

I am passionate about everything within tech and to grow a healthy, collaborative, continuously improving engineering culture by coaching and giving feedback to teams, individuals, and senior leaders.

I'm a backend developer at Star Stable Entertainment. Previously I've studied game development at Stockholm University and I started my career as a gameplay programmer.

Milton (he/him) has been working with everything from game journalism, teaching, organising events and diversity efforts to programming, project management, and starting several game companies. Today he is the head scout of Kinda Brave - the world's first sustainability focused game publisher.

Diana Răzman is a writer and narrative designer passionate about storytelling, emergent narratives, and wacky games. She is interested in bringing a humanistic approach to the way digital games are developed, played, and studied. Other interests include: being chaotic and growing plants.

After my education as a Technical Artist I eventually landed my dream job as a Software Engineer at MindArk. I focus on AI and gameplay in both Entropia Universe and our new project. Starting off as a 2D artist my road within the game industry hasn’t been a straight one, but I’m proud of where I am today.

Lotta is the character/creature lead artist as Star Stable. She has a background in 3D, art direction and Storytelling/world-building. She was part of founding Palindrome interactive, but after a couple of years she realized creating horse games about fighting cuthulu was more her drill than doing topdown strategy games. She was going to move to Stockholm but somehow Skövde managed to keep her in it's grasp. She now works from her cozy home office, perfect for an awkward introvert like her!

I have a university education in Game Design and Graphics and have been with MindArk for roughly seven years now. I am involved in designing and implementing content, but mostly the former. In addition to enjoying and creating digital games I also have a certain love for TTRPGS and vampire larping.

QA Analyst at Star Stable Entertainment, currently working on the Horse & Character team for Star Stable Online. I got my start in game development in Skövde, studying 3D graphics, and have previously worked with graphic design, community management and event organizing within the games industry. I worked for Sweden Game Arena for 2,5 years and organized Sweden Game Conference in 2016 to 2018.

I'm a programmer who has worked with game development for five years and am currently busy coordinating 11 programmers within a remote multinational game project and trying to find some time for coding in between. Cats, waffles, and swimming are some of my favorites.

Hello! My name is Melanie I'm a 2D and 3D Animator at Dinomite Games. This is my very first job ever in the gaming industry without any experience except for my animation degree, you would think that it hasn't been easy but thanks to the support and knowledge from my VD Lina and teammates it has nothing but a fund and amazing 1st year. I have learned alot about Game development and myself along the way. Making things come to life have been a big dream of mine since I was a kid and to have that dream come true opens new doors and goals to explore.

Video games are an amazing medium when it comes to communicating experiences with potentially powerful messages. As an artist from America, I want to make engaging games with a group of passionate people that can develop together as a team. I also currently work as a World/Level Designer. Its a great job and I love it.

As one third of the work-life balance focused Noknok Audio trio, Oda makes everything from church-organ infused jazz to singing seamonster sounds. Working on a variety of games is great fun, but also a lot of responsibility, so teaming up to help each other navigate ever evolving workloads just made sense!

CEO / Art director at Dinomite Games working on the game Go Fight Fantatsic! a hand drawn hack ‘n slash for 1-3 players. Follow a gang of teen mercenaries and their spacedog-captain who stumble into an alien invasion.

My name is Carolina Elvelin and I´m an environment artist working at FRAME BREAK! I´m 27 years old and quite recently started to work in the game industry. I have worked and lived at different places in Sweden before I decided to start my studies to become a 3D artist at Playgroundsquad in Falun. During my education I had an internship at FRAME BREAK and when that was done I got hired! (wohoo) My biggest passion is 3D art and plants, I have collected an unhealty amount of different plants in too little time, I´m working to create my own little jungle in my home!

Anita has previously worked with both QA and UX on Passpartout and Verlet Swing by Flamebait Games as well as on the Christmas calendar game Marvinter by SR Barnradion. She was one of the co-organisers of DONNA DAY back when it all started in 2016 when she was still a master student at Högskolan in Skövde and has been involved ever since. She is a filthy casual gamer, Nintendo fan-girl and a cat-lover fuelled by coffee and anxiety.

University of Skövde alumna who has worked in the industry for 6+ years. Started as a localization tester but works as a game designer or producer nowadays. Previously worked on games such as Need for Speed, Lost in Random, FIFA and Battlefield. Currently starting up Studio Northshade. Strong believer in that people's well-being comes first!

A game designer & process advisor who have worked with everything from AAA to indie start-ups. Have games such as Need for Speed, Lost in Random, Entropia Universe & Hiber World in the bagage. After 5 years in the industry I started my own game consultancy company together with a colleague & friend, & we have since helped multiple game studios with their systems design, company cultures & processes for the past few years. A strong believer in that happy people make better games.

Sally Blake is the CEO of Silent Games and has worked in both AAA and indie game development for over 10 years. She has either won or been shortlisted for multiple industry awards for developing strong, happy and motivated teams, as well as her work around diversity and inclusion. Born in Bradford and now living in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK, she champions the game industry in the North of England and she has shipped numerous titles including: “Just Dance”, “Watch Dogs”, “Tom Clancy’s The Division 1&2”, “Descenders”, “Yes, Your Grace”, “Hypnospace Outlaw”, “Britannia VR” and more.

Hello! I’m Eleanor, the CEO of a new games studio, Plucky Bytes, Sweden. We began in January 2021. I am new to the games industry and thoroughly enjoy and feel honoured to be working with such amazing, talented and creative people every day. We are a small team of 8 developers, all working remotely.

Professional overthinker and often finding myself unintentionally staring into space, I have been working at Coffee Stain Studios for 3 years. My experience there is as a general Game Designer, but I mainly focus on Level design and Creature/Combat design where I can let out my creativity and wild ideas. Outside of my design work I have been focussing on giving lectures and helping in trying to get more diversity on the work floor. As robotics fanatic, space nerd and a lover of the strange and unusual, feel free to come say hi and ask questions about my experience.

Agnieszka started working in the gaming industry by a happy accident in 2016, and completely fell in love with it. Not only did the talent, passion and engagement of the people blow her away, she also relished the chance to positively influence team culture — inspiring her to take up the challenge. She strongly believes we need more diverse teams with inclusive cultures where everyone feels listened to. Agnieszka's passion is to help grow and sustain teams that have respect for each other, the autonomy to make decisions and the confidence to take on challenges. She pursued project management to learn about growth mindset, agile leadership and all that jazz! At the moment she has worked as an Agile Coach at MindArk since 2021.

Building worlds practically since birth, I didn’t get paid for it until Coffee Stain plucked me up and gave me way too much trust and power. I’ve been working with tree, rock, and earth ever since, building playgrounds and vistas, making our players feel guil for industrializing lush alien planets.

Hey, My name is Qassim Obeid and I work as a Associate Development Manager at DICE. I joined the company January 2021 as an Intern. In my spare time I love to hang out with family or friends and of course I love playing games. I mostly am into FPS games such as Apex Legends, Counter Strike, Battlefield and Valorant, but I am also a fan of other genres like MOBAs, MMORPGs. I also am a cat person, although I don't have a cat, I can't get enough of cat content :D

After passing through a few countries (and jobs) I found my way to Sweden and Coffee Stain Studios, and I've stuck around since! I've been a world designer officially for almost 5 years now, and a writer for my entire life (trust me, ask my parents, I'd narrate full epics to them before I could even write my own name). Currently these skills are being crammed into Satisfactory, a sci-fi factory-building fps. Additionally I have some small experience with lighting, QA, and VR. I'm also addicted to D&D, music, and having as many tabs open in my browser as humanly possible.

I've found my niche/happy place in storytelling and scripted/written content creation. I'm passionate about diversity and inclusion, stories in all shapes and sizes, mental health, good documentation, and cosy vibes.

Publishing Producer at Coffee Stain working with internal and external projects.

Amanda is a QA Analyst at Star Stable Entertainment currently working on the Horse & Character team for Star Stable Online. She started her journey in game development in Skövde, studying 3D graphics at the university, and has previously worked with graphic design, community management and event organizing within the games industry. She worked for Sweden Game Arena for 2,5 years and organized Sweden Game Conference 2016-2018.

Moa Lenngren stands firmly with one foot in the hard rock business and the other one in the game development industry. With degrees and huge interests in both subjects she gladly combines them in everything she does. During the weekdays Moa works as a programmer, composer and audio designer at Zcooly where she develops educational games for children. During the weekends she tours the world, shredding lead guitar, with her hard rock band Browsing Collection. The band is also working together with Star Stable where they produce music to and personify the in-game punk band called The Miscreants.

Agnieszka started working in the gaming industry by a happy accident in 2016, and completely fell in love with it. Not only did the talent, passion and engagement of the people blow her away, she also relished the chance to positively influence team culture — inspiring her to take up the challenge. Agnieszka's passion is to help grow and sustain teams that have respect for each other, the autonomy to make decisions and the confidence to take on challenges. She strongly believes we need more diverse teams with inclusive cultures where everyone feels listened to. She pursued project management to learn about growth mindset, agile leadership and all that jazz!

Starting off as an aspiring 2D artist I later decided that I wanted a broader view of game development and chose a Technical Artist education. After a year as a casino game developer, I eventually landed my dream job as a Gameplay Programmer at MindArk. My interest and dream within the game development industry has not been a straight road, but I am definitely happy where I ended up!

It all started with a university education in Game Design and Graphics on Gotland and now I've been with MindArk for roughly six years. I am, and have been, involved in mission and event design, visual scripting, level design and environment art. In addition to enjoying and creating digital games I also have a certain love for tabletop games, especially roleplaying ones.

Game Producer/Product Owner with years of live service experience. Gamer and unicorn believer. Occasionally I like to talk about game production. I also have to answer to two feline overlords. Fueled by coffee and anxiety.

Karoline is an award-winning Senior Game Designer who works for CCP Games, on their game EVE Online. She has worked on a broad range of titles both as a Lead Designer at Star Stable Entertainment, as well as a Senior Gameplay Designer for the uprising UK studio nDreams. One of her strengths as a designer is her player-centric design, which has become her area of expertise. Her engagement in helping and inspiring young game developers has led her to become both a mentor and a lecture for organizations such as Into Games as well as Studio Vision.

University of Skövde alumna who has worked in the industry for 5+ years. Started as a localization tester but works as a game designer or producer nowadays. Previously worked on games such as Need for Speed, Lost in Random and FIFA. Currently working for DICE developing Battlefield. Strong believer in that people's well-being comes first!

I have been game designing for the last decade now and released games from everything between AAA and indie startups. Today I am working out of Gothenburg as a senior designer for Mindark and their Unreal Entropia remake, while also being the VP for Apophenia Studios, a growing start up company that creates games and helps external studios with taking their designs and, more importantly, their processes to the next level.

Coming from a university in the Netherlands, I tried finding a company I could call my home. With luck being by my side I landed my place at Coffee Stain Studios, where I get to work on Satisfactory. I have a fascination for level, lighting, audio and monster design and I use my skills to enhance the world, creatures and all the cool stuff players encounter (While occasionally breaking the build). There are a few things I can’t see myself without like not being able to build model kit, riding my longboard during the summer, playing basketball.

I've been working as UI/UX Designer since 2016 at Coffee Stain Studios. Before that time I studied Game Design and Production, dabbled in graphic design and worked as a chef. Design, art and communication are my passion and I strive to create games that are both imaginative and accessible. In my free time you can find me on roller skates, singing, (digital) painting or playing the bass.

I'm a talent acquisition professional with 17 years in the games industry. I've helped hire for many projects and roles across 3 continents.

Site Manager and Coach at Sweden Game Startup in Gothenburg. Co-founder of the games company Free Lunch Design, where he was a Game Designer, Creative Director and Business Developer for 10 years. Spend his spare time with cultural and subcultural creativity outside of games, for example art, music and co-creational projects such as Burning Man.

I was blown away when I realized I could combine two of my biggest interests into one job: Character art and horses. Being a lead also gives me a lot of opportunities to mentor, coach and guide my fellow artists which I love to do! I studied at the University of Skövde and also had a try at the incubator when I was part of starting up Palindrome Interactive and driving it for a couple of years working as art director. In 2019 I decided to sell my shares and move on to make third person games instead. My biggest advise to anyone in this industry is to anyone is to follow your dreams and imagine that the world is a conspiracy to your success.

Jenny has worked professionally with games for 25 years and started her career as one of the first female game developers in Sweden. Since 2003 she has primarily worked as a teacher and researcher in game development in Skövde and Visby. She is the founder of the DONNA network and is currently working as an innovation manager and business coach at Science Park Skövde and Sweden Game Arena.

Five years ago I asked Jenny Brusk if she needed help organizing her new mini-conference idea "DONNA DAY" and here I am five years later and still stressing over if we have ordered enough fika for this event or not. Aside from my involvement in organizing DONNA DAY, I've had the opportunity to work on several released indie games with focus on QA management and playtesting. Currently looking forward to the next step in my career working as a Community interaction and Playtest coordinator at a small indie studio in Skövde.

Lissa Holloway-Attaway is an Associate Professor in Media Arts, Aesthetics and Narration at the Division of Game Development and the leader for the GAME (Games, Art, Media, Experience) research group at the University of Skövde. She teaches within the games development education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and supervises PhD work in Informatics. Her creative and critical media work and research has been exhibited, performed, played, and published in a number of International venues. Her current research interests include: digital cultural heritage games, experimental storytelling for AR/VR experiences, inclusive game development, and digital and environmental humanities.